HOUSTON — Aaron Rodgers walked into the interview room with a slight limp, the result of one complete evisceration of the Houston Texans’ defense. And with a smile, the Green Bay Packers quarterback was back in his element.

Last year, he couldn’t hunt for much criticism, for motivation. The Packers enjoyed a regular-season-long joy ride. This year has been, well, different. Rodgers doesn’t watch much television. Friends, he says, fill him in.

Either way, Rodgers’ antenna was up this week.

“I feel like I’ve always played with a chip on my shoulder,” Rodgers said. “It helps when people give you a reason to have that chip.”

Apparently. With a 42-24 thrashing of the undefeated Texans on Sunday, Oct. 14, Rodgers got back on track. The Packers quarterback shredded Houston for 338 yards and six touchdowns with no interceptions. Teammates say they saw a sharp focus in Rodgers all week. Nothing fancy. No heart-to-heart meetings.

Their quarterback was simply in a zone. Sunday was the evidence.

“In his eyes you see it when he talks to us,” wide receiver James Jones said. “He calls us up before every game and he said, ‘I’m going to be the lead dog. Follow me, I’m going to make some plays. I haven’t been playing well. I’m going to make some plays.’ I think he was extremely focused tonight and it showed up out there on the field.”

He’s still without Greg Jennings, but that didn’t matter. At Reliant Stadium Sunday night, Rodgers found Jordy Nelson for three touchdowns, Jones for two and tight end Tom Crabtree for one. Two wide receivers — Randall Cobb and Nelson — eclipsed 100 yards. After hurrying and overthrowing a pass to a wide-open Jones on the Packers’ first drive, he was practically perfect.

Rodgers immediately rebounded with a 41-yard scoring strike to Nelson on that first drive and proceeded to have a career night.

His team was 2-3. Nobody would admit it. This was no “must win,” players repeated. But a loss at Houston would have been a major blow. Instead, Rodgers put the team on his back.

“Throughout the week, he put the blame on himself more than he needed to as far saying he needed to step his game up,” tight end Tom Crabtree said. “None of us felt that way. We all needed to step our game up. He was himself throughout the week. He’s not the kind of guy who will freak out.”

As Rodgers noted afterward, Houston challenged the Packers. Defensive coordinator Wade Phillips used single-safety looks and man coverage, daring Rodgers to be Rodgers. Oh, J.J. Watt sacked Rodgers and discount double-checked for the cameras. Rodgers laughed about that afterward. He told the defensive end that he has his own celebration, “a salute.”

But Rodgers made the Texans pay. His six touchdowns tied a franchise record.

“They put those corners in one-on-one spots with not a lot of safety help,” Rodgers said. “So we wanted to take some shots early and as we got into the flow of the game we were able to dictate some of the stuff we wanted to do on offense.”

This time, the Packers went for the jugular, too. That was the theme in 2011. When a team pushed, Rodgers pushed back. So one week after blowing a 21-3 lead at Indianapolis, the Packers finished Houston off. Soon after Arian Foster’s touchdown run cut Green Bay’s lead to 28-17, Rodgers hit Tom Crabtree for a 48-yard touchdown on third and 1 — taking a crushing hit from Brooks Reed in the process.

Mentally, Rodgers said, it’s a big edge to instantly strike back like this. The Packers cruised to a win.

In the locker room this week, Rodgers set a tone.

“He never shows that he’s rattled around us,” left guard T.J. Lang said. “He’s always the same guy, the same focused guy. But I could tell throughout the whole week, there was definitely a lot more focus and urgency from the group.

“When he’s on his game like that, it’s ridiculous.”

So, no, the Packers won’t be tripping to the bottom of the NFC quite yet. They’re 3-3. The St. Louis Rams are next.

And their quarterback — the one at the controls — is just fine.

“There’s not any quit in that locker room,” Rodgers said. “It’s always better when people are doubting us a little bit I think. We kind of band together. People tried to pull us apart this week and we stuck together. And we found our motivation within.”

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